Ash's Reason
by W. R. Winters
Summary: Ash has never won a league, why? After having most of his friends betray him he's left to become stronger. Now five years later he's decided to return, and he's stronger than ever before, but it isn't just in battling. Ash is determined to prove his strength, but strange events are happening. Leading him to think that he needs to prove himself in not just battling. Pearlshipping.
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome, to my very first pearlshipping story. Don't like don't read.**

**Remember this is my first pearlshipping story so go easy on me.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. If I did, I would make all my stories actually happen. Has that happened? No, which means I don't own Pokémon.**

**-*X*x*X*-**

A trainer stood alone on the mountain side, his stoic expression watched the mountains ahead of him as if waiting for something. The lone trainer sighed and lowered his head causing the visor of his cap to cover the upper half of his face. He felt the strong wind blowing against his body, but did not move. He took of his cap allowing his unkempt, raven black hair to blow freely.

He felt the cold rush of the wind die down and was soon replaced by a slowly growing warmth. He opened his eyes and raised his head toward the mountains in front of him and saw the sun slowly rising above them, covering the valley with its warm glow.

His stoic expression started to fade and was soon replaced by sadness. Tears started to pool in his chocolate brown eyes, once full of excitement and happiness, now emotionless except for a few emotions, anger, hurt, and sadness. Soon tears rolled down his face and he closed his eyes as he remembered that day.

_Flashback_

"_Ash's Pikachu is unable to battle. That was his last Pokémon, which means Ash has been eliminated and Trip will be proceeding to the semi-finals of the Vertress Conference."_

_Even though the conference ended last week, those words still echoed in his mind. The only thing that felt worse than the defeat was the look on Trip's face. Fourteen year old Ash wanted to punch Trip for looking at him like that, but then his main concern was healing his Pokémon._

_Now a week later, Ash was at home in Pallet Town at a party/reunion with his friends. The party was to help cheer Ash up and congratulate him on getting so far into the league, but right now, Ash was simply looking out the window thinking._

_He turned back around and looked at the party happening all around him. All of his friends were there. Misty, Brock, Dawn, May, Max, Iris, Cilan the list went on and on, even Gary had decided to come, Ash looked at all of his friends, but his eyes lingered on Misty who was currently talking to Dawn, most likely about Piplup or something close to that._

_As Ash continued to look at Misty he felt Butterfrees and Beautiflies moving around in his stomach. You see, over his journey through Unova, Ash had gotten over his denseness and, believe it or not, had realized his feelings for Misty. Ash had planned to tell her after he won the Conference, but since he lost he had no idea what to do._

_His eyes then went to Dawn. Out of all his traveling companions, Dawn was the closest to Ash. Ash then decided to ask Dawn for help, because she clearly knew more about this stuff than he did. He considered asking May for help, but she was too busy flirting with Drew. After they had gotten together you could hardly separate them from one another._

_Ash walked over to Dawn and Misty and slightly overheard part of their conversation._

"_-so you really think he likes me." Dawn asked Misty._

_Misty rolled her eyes, "Of course he does, why wouldn't he?" Dawn looked doubtful. "Look, you need to tell him, we all know how he can be when it comes to romance."_

_Dawn giggled and Misty continued, "You just need to tell him that-" she stopped when she saw Ash, "Oh hi Ash."_

_Ash smiled in return, "Hey Misty, do you mind if I could talk to Dawn alone for a few minutes."_

_Dawn's eyes widened and Misty smiled in a way Ash couldn't recognize, "Why do you only need to talk to Dawn?"_

_Ash blushed and became a little nervous, "I-I I just need to ask her something important. It's kind of personal."_

_Misty walked away saying over her shoulder, "Take all the time you need."_

_Dawn turned her attention back to Ash, "So what do you need?" she asked curiously._

_Ash looked around nervously, "Can we go somewhere else to talk?" Dawn blushed and simply nodded._

_Ash led Dawn outside and to a large oak tree about 15ft away from his house. Dawn looked around curiously and turned back to Ash, "Okay, so what do you need to ask me?"_

_Ash took in a deep breath, "IneedadviceonhowtoaskMistytobemygirlfriend."_

_Dawn was taken aback, "I'm sorry, what was that?"_

_Ash replied, "I need advice on how to ask Misty to be my girlfriend."_

_Dawn's eyes widened in surprise, then she looked confused, "Well I can certainly see why you wanted to talk to me alone, but why are you asking me for advice."_

_After thinking a bit, "You're my best friend, why wouldn't I go to you?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "Okay you got me, I was going to ask May, but she was too busy with Drew, and you know what would've happen had I gone to Brock for advice." _

_Dawn giggled at the thought. "So I'm guessing you like Misty?"_

_Ash nodded and he thought he could see a flash of hurt in Dawn's eyes, "Are you okay Dawn?" he asked with concern._

_Dawn quickly responded, "I'm fine, no need to worry."_

_Ash thought she sounded a little sadden, but shook it off, "That's when a worry the most."_

_Dawn laughed and playfully hit Ash's shoulder, "Well, all I can offer you advice wise is to just tell her."_

_Ash turned away from her, "But what if she rejects me?" he asked her, feeling hopeless and probably sounded like it too._

_He felt a hand on his shoulder and he heard Dawn's voice behind him "Sometimes, all it takes is 15-30 seconds of courage and you can do amazing things."_

_Ash felt confidence rise inside of him as Dawn's words sunk into his brain. Ash turned to Dawn, "Thanks Dawn you're the best friend anybody could ask for." Ash gave her a quick hug and started walking back to his house with Dawn following behind him, a small blush evident on her face._

_Ash entered the house and the first thing he saw wasn't what he expected, Trip was talking to Misty. Ash walked over to them, "What are you doing here?" he asked in a cold icy voice._

"_We invited him." Misty said to Ash._

_Ash looked at Misty with a slightly angry look, "Why did you-" Ash stopped himself and took a deep breath to calm himself, "Never mind that's not important right now. Misty can I talk to you… alone?"_

_Misty nodded, curious on what Ash wanted to talk to her about. Trip walked away, but was still a close enough distance to hear what they were talking about. "So what do you need?" she asked him._

_Ash grew nervous, unsure of how to say it, so he decided to just get it out, "Misty, we've been friends for a long time now, and lately I've ben having… _different _feelings about you." Misty began to panic on the inside seeing where he was going, she also noticed that more and more of the party guests started to watch what was happening "Misty, I think I love you and I would like to ask you to be my girlfriend." Ash sighed in relief happy to get it off of his chest. Mutters of astonishment reached his ears and he looked around to see that everyone (except Dawn) was surprised by Ash's confession and whispering about what Misty was going to say._

"_Ash," Misty's voice was completely void of emotion and Ash started to worry, "I'm surprised that you discovered that you love someone, the fact that it's me surprises me even more."_

_Misty took a look around, but her gaze lingered on Dawn for a slit second. When she saw the heartbroken look in her eyes, she couldn't help but feel a little guilty, "But, I don't feel the same way."_

_Ash's eyes widened, "W-what?" Ash felt his heart begin to sink, "Why?"_

"_You're… you're… you're just not worth it okay!" Misty didn't mean to shout, but it just came out._

_Ash took a few steps back away from Misty, "What do you mean?" his voice starting to tremble._

_Trip smirked, "I think it's quite clear what she means," everyone turned to look at Trip, "You're not worth it because you're too weak."_

_Ash's mind reeled at the thought, "What you don't believe me?" Trip's taunting grin was eating away at the wall blocking his rage, and his words seemed to be like acid being thrown against it, "Well why don't you ask Misty, or all your friends?"_

_Ashes looked around at his friends, only to see that they all had uncomfortable looks on their faces, were shifting from foot to foot and refused to make eye contact with him. "You don't… actually _believe _him do you?" nobody answered._

_Ash's heart began to sink more and more with every second. Misty walked in front of Ash and answered for everyone, "Actually Ash… we _do _believe Trip." Ash took in a sharp intake of breath as his heart shattered. Ash heard a mocking chuckle and he turned to see Trip starting to laugh at him, unable to hold back his rage he stormed over and slugged Trip's eye sending him to the floor._

_Not wanting to look at his _friends_, he walked towards the door and opened it, "Where are you going?" Iris asked him. Ash said nothing, "He's such a-"_

_Iris was cut off when Ash sharply turned around, his eyes filled with nothing but rage, "DON'T YOU DARE FINISH THAT SENTENCE!" Thunder boomed outside as everybody was shocked and slightly scared of the tone of his voice, "Come on Pikachu." Pikachu glared at everyone with sparks coming out of his cheeks before running out after Ash before he slammed the door._

_As Ash walked away from his house it started to rain. When the tears started flowing from his eyes he started running. Anger, sadness, and adrenaline keeping him going he kept on running until there was a large distance away from him and his so call 'friends'. When he stopped he was in a small clearing with some rocks of various sizes littering the ground .His thoughts were focused on how his friends could do this to him as tears once again stung his eyes, he picked up a quite large rock and threw it a good ten feet and yelled as loud as he could putting all of his anger into the shout, send several Pidgey to fly away in fear._

_Out of breath he sat on a nearby rock, buried his head in his hands and started crying. Pikachu looked at his trainer in sadness and went to comfort him when he heard footsteps. He turned and prepared to launch a Thunderbolt attack when he saw who it was._

"_Don't worry Pikachu, it's just me." Dawn said to try and calm down the Electric Mouse Pokémon._

"_Pika pika?" Pikachu asked her in a suspicious tone._

"_Pikachu I swear I had no idea that they were going to do that." Dawn tried to reassure him. "I just came to talk to Ash, just give me five minutes and I'll be on my way." _

_Pikachu examined the blunette for a bit, and then he came out of his fighting stance. Dawn walked over to the broken trainer, "Ash? Are you alright?"_

_Ash took his head out of his hands, stood up and looked at the coordinator, "Are you here to insult me too? To tell me I'm too weak to continue my journey" he asked in a cold tone, his voice slightly scratchy from the yelling._

_Dawn shook her head, "No, I would never do that." Ash turned away from her as if he didn't believe her, "Ash, I'm your best friend, why would I think you were too weak?"_

_Ash grunted, "I thought they were my friends, and look what they did." He started to walk away, and Pikachu started to follow._

"_Where are you going?" Dawn asked him._

_He stopped and without looking back he said, "Away, I don't know where or for how long, just away. Don't try and talk me out of doing it, and don't try and follow me. I need to do this alone."_

_Ash waited for Dawn to try and convince him to stop, but she didn't, "Well if you're going away. Can I at least give you something before you go?"_

_Ash turned around towards the blue-haired and nodded. Dawn walked forward and took two things out of her bag. The first one was a small present wrapped in blue wrapping paper with a shiny sapphire blue ribbon; the second was an egg incubator with a Pokémon egg inside it, the egg was mostly colored white with the top of it colored green with one spot of pink. Dawn put the items into his arms._

_Ash looked at Dawn, "Since the only Pokémon you're taking with you is Pikachu, I think you'll need another to get you started." _

"_What Pokémon is it?" Ash asked her._

_Dawn simply smiled, "You'll have to wait until it hatches, but I'll give you a hint. We both worked together to save this Pokémon." Ash looked at the present before Ash could ask Dawn she was already talking, "This is for an occasion that we should've been celebrating today, but I seems that nobody remembered, not even you."_

_Dawn leaned up and gave Ash a kiss on the cheek, "Happy birthday Ash." Leaving him and Pikachu in a daze, she walked away._

_When Ash came out of his daze, though a slight blush that dusted his cheeks was still evident. He put the Pokémon egg and the present in his bag and went to find the nearest Pokémon Center. When he got there he sat on a nearby chair and slowly unwrapped the present. There were three things inside. The first item was a scarf, when Ash picked it up it felt as soft as silk and felt just as warm, the color of the scarf was dark grey at one end, and as you got to the other end it faded to a silver color. _

_Ash put it down and picked up the next item he saw, it was a necklace. It was a golden medallion attached to a leather string to keep it around his neck. The golden medallion was rectangular shaped with a golden Pikachu surrounded by electricity designed onto the front. On the back there was a message engraved into the gold._

"_To the best trainer I know. –Dawn"_

_Ash lowered the medallion and saw that the last item in the box was an envelope. He opened it and pulled out a contest ribbon attached to a note. Ash took the ribbon off the note and began to read._

"_Dear Ash,_

_I'm so sorry you didn't make to the semi-finals, but you can always try again right. Yeah no need to worry. The ribbon attached to this note was the first ribbon I ever won. I thought you could use it as a good luck charm on your next journey. If you don't get very far during your next journey. Just remember, I will always be there for you, no matter what happens, I'll always be there. I wish you all the luck in the world._

_Dawn"_

_Ash lowered the note and looked at the contest ribbon in his hand. His hand clenched around it as determination and confidence sunk deeply into his brain. "She must be a very special girl huh." A deep mellow voice said nearby._

_Ash turned and saw two people, both around his age, and both of them were boys. One looked familiar, but the other different._

"_Who are you?" Ash asked them._

_The one that looked familiar to him pointed to the other, "His name is Clyde." He pointed to himself, "You already know who I am."_

_Ash looked confused, "Why are you here? I thought you would've been on your next journey by now."_

"_Normally I would have, but I had a feeling to go to stop by your place before starting, and when I got there. I saw what your friends did to you, and to answer your question. We're here to help you." Ash looked surprised, out of all the people he knew, this was the _last _person he thought would offer him help, "If you come with us, we can help you to become one if not the greatest Pokémon trainer in the world." _

_Ash looked at the two trainers, "Why? Why would you want to help me?"_

_He turned towards Clyde who stayed silent and motioned the other to continue, "You're tired of being pathetic, and you want to prove yourself." His emotionless faced cracked a small smile (or a smirk Ash couldn't tell), "Plus, Dawn seems to have left quite the impact on you."_

_Ash cracked a smile, "It's nice to see that you got her name right for once."_

_He shrugged, "People can change with time."_

_He walked forward and extended a hand towards Ash, "Are you willing to accept our help?" Ash looked skeptical, "I can promise you, that if you come with us. You will be able to prove that you're 'friends' were wrong about you, and that Dawn was right."_

_Ash looked down at the contest ribbon still clutched into his hand, then his eyes looked to the medallion and scarf, and he thought about the egg contained in his bag. Ash reached out with his free hand and shook his hand firmly._

_Flashback end._

Ash opened his eyes as the flashback ended, another wind had started blowing, causing the scarf around his neck to fly like a flag behind him. "Five years, to the day, it's been five years since that day." Ash muttered to himself. Ash reached into his shirt and pulled out the golden medallion Dawn gave him.

Ever since Dawn cave it to him, he rarely took it off, a few weeks after receiving it he discovered that it could be opened, and ever since, at least twice a month. He would watch the sunrise and look at the medallion. Ash opened it and looked inside; there were three sections of the medallion. The left section had a picture of him, the right had a picture of Dawn, and the middle section simple had the message _"No need to worry"._

Ash heard footsteps behind him, considering he hadn't heard the person speak(or yell at him) yet he assumed it was Clyde.

Ash rolled his eyes, "I'm coming Clyde, no need to worry."

Clyde walked up beside him, his expression read, "Thinking again?" Clyde didn't talk much, but he still did a very good job of expressing himself.

Ash nodded, "Yes." Out of the corner of his eye, Ash saw Clyde gesturing to the golden medallion still in his hand. Self-consciously Ash's hand rubbed a contest ribbon that was pinned to his shirt right above his heart, "Yes… I was thinking about her."

**-*X*x*X*-**

**And that's a wrap.**

**I hope you enjoyed this, remember it's my first story doing pearlshipping so go easy on me.**

**If you liked it, please leave a review.**

**Also I'm holding two contests.**

**#1: We know about Ash and Clyde, but who is the third person that's with them? Send a PM with your answer. The first three people to get it right will receive a special prize.**

**#2: Dawn gave Ash a Pokémon egg, but what Pokémon is inside it? Dawn gave Ash a hint on what Pokémon it was, but let's see if any of **_**you **_**can figure it out. Send a PM with your answer, and the first two people to get it right will receive a special prize.**

**This is W. R. Winters signing off.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's the second chapter of Ash's Reason.**

**I would like to thank everyone who took the time to read the first chapter.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Pokémon yada yada yada… On with the story!**

**-*X*x*X*-**

Two trainers alone on the Cliffside were watching the sunrise just as they've done several times before.

The first of the two trainers was none other than Ash Ketchum, but these days he went by a different name, Jacob Pine. Over the past five years Ash has been training constantly, and over those years Ash has gotten taller, more physically fit, and also a lot smarter. He currently wore all black with a dark gray and silver scarf around his neck and a black cap on his head. Other than that; the only speck of color on him was a red and gold contest ribbon pinned above where his heart is. And clutched in his hand was a rectangular shaped golden medallion.

The second of these two trainers was one of Ash's companions; Clyde Roberts. Unlike Ash, Clyde was a coordinator along with being a trainer, and a very well-known one at that. Clyde stood an inch or two taller than Ash and was a bit broader shoulders than Ash did. He wore a navy blue shirt under a black leather army jacket with several pockets on it, he also wore dark colored jeans and shoes went for traveling. His skin was a slightly lighter shade than Ash's. His eyes were butterscotch brown and had short shaggy light blonde hair, and as usual had a stoic expression on his face.

Clyde sighed at the trainer's love for the blue-haired coordinator known as Dawn. He put a hand on Ash's shoulder,** "**Come on Ash, we don't want to be late." Ash nodded and tucked the medallion under his shirt and scarf and followed Clyde to their campsite.

When they got there, they saw that their comrade, along with most of his stuff, wasn't there. Ash rolled his eyes at the sight, "He probably grew impatient and went ahead of us as usual." Clyde nodded in agreement. Ash smiled deviously, "You think we can beat him there?" Clyde's face remained stoic, but his eyes told Ash he knew what he was getting at, and started to clean up what was left of their camp.

When they were done Ash took out one of the six pokeballs at his belt and released the Pokémon inside it. When the Pokémon came out, he flew through the air at dazzling speeds happy to be out of that pokeball. Ash called him down and the sleek flying type landed next to him, "Our comrade has gotten ahead of us and we need to show him that he needs to wait." He nodded his blue head and Ash and Clyde climbed onto his back, "Remember stay invisible and don't go too fast remember you're carrying _two_ people." And with his words the blue Pokémon took off.

It took only five minutes for them to get to their destination, Flowerpetal Stadium the location of this year's Grand Festival Ultimo where previous winners of Grand Festivals from all around the world come and compete to be the King or Queen of Contests. Clyde was here to compete, and Ash had a feeling that Dawn was going to be here too.

Ash asked to land in a valley close to the stadium, but still far enough away to avoid being sighted. When they dismounted Ash took out his Pokémon's pokeball and returned him, "Thank you old friend."

Ash Clyde and Ash approached the stadium Clyde stopped Ash. When Ash turned towards him Clyde scratched at his cheeks and he got the message. Ash pulled up his scarf to it covered his nose, cheeks and the bottom half of his face. Even though the z's on his cheeks have faded over the years, they could still be noticed.

He then brought out a small blue case with two compartments. When he opened it revealed two contact lenses. Ash put them in and started to blink, when he opened his eyes fully his eyes were a dark shade of purple rather that their usual chocolate brown.

Clyde then took out a small disk-shaped black device and attached it to the back of Ash's neck, then adjusted his scarf to that it would cover it if his hair didn't. Ash turned around so he was facing Clyde, "Thank you Clyde." Because of the device, Ash's voice was now lower and sounded far more darker, Clyde only nodded as his response and went ahead to go inside the stadium.

"You used Latios didn't you?" an annoyed voice replied behind him. Ash turned around to see his second companion. Even though his voice sounded annoyed, Ash could tell he was trying not to laugh.

Ash shrugged, "Only because you refused to wait for us Paul." Paul continued to stare at Ash intently before he started to laugh and eventually Ash joined him in his laughter.

As the years went by Paul had grown nicer and a little less cold to his Pokémon along with other people. He still wore the same attire as five years ago, but he looked a lot more like his brother Reggie now with his hair styled in a ponytail. Paul had grown taller than Ash, but he wasn't as tall as Clyde or as broad-shouldered either, but he was still in very good shape.

Ash made a gesture with his hand, "Come on let's go see Clyde compete."

Paul smirked, "Maybe if we're lucky we'll see Dawn too."

Ash only shrugged, "Maybe… just maybe."

"THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!" A girl of about eighteen screamed as she struggled to brush out her long silky blue hair. This girl was none other than Dawn Berlitz, a Top Coordinator that was going to compete in the Grand Festival Ultimo, but apparently that wasn't going to happen because currently she was having an extremely hard time fixing her hair.

After constant trying he gave up, "This is hopeless," she said to herself as she sunk into a nearby chair. She sat there in silence until someone cleared their throat and got her attention.

She turned and saw one of the competing Top Coordinators, in fact one of the best, Clyde Roberts. He was currently wearing a grey tunic with a matching cap with whit formal gloves and matching pants and boots.

Dawn gasped, "Are you Clyde Roberts." He nodded, "I am a big fan other than my mom you've been a huge inspiration for me as a coordinator.

The corners of Clyde's mouth twitched, which was the closest thing you could get to him smiling, _'He really is as stoic as they say.'_ Dawn thought to herself.

"You're not so bad yourself, I've been studying all competition I might have this year, and _you_, Dawn Berlitz, were the one I found to be my biggest competition this year." Dawn blushed at his compliment, "But I don't think you'll be able to compete looking like _that._ Perhaps I can help."

Clyde walked over and picked up a hair brush and started to softly brush hair gorgeous blue locks, "So Dawn? I see you're the daughter of the esteemed Johanna Berlitz. Was it she that taught you everything you know?"

Dawn simply responded, "No, she only taught me the basics. It was my _friends_ that taught me everything I know."

Clyde nodded in understanding while putting down the hair brush and picking up a comb and slightly getting it wet and then combing her hair with the now wet comb, "Was it _all_ your friends that helped, or was it _one _friend in particular?"

Dawn blushed in embarrassment, "I-it was actually my friend Ash that helped me the most."

Clyde looked at her reflection in the mirror as he continued to work on her hair, strangely being able to concentrate on Dawn's hair and _still _focused on the conversation, "So was this _Ash_ your boyfriend?"

"I wish," she responded thinking aloud then blushed as she realized what she just said Clyde's eyes had an amused look as his mouth twitched again, "Yes I wanted Ash to be my boyfriend, but…"

"He doesn't know you love him?" Clyde finished for her, more of a statement than a question, she nodded, "Well I suggest that you win this and then go tell him. You're a very beautiful girl and I'm sure _any _guy would be _more_ than happy to have you as a girlfriend."

Dawn blushed at Clyde's words, "You're very sweet you know that?" Clyde shrugged and she giggled, "Well I _would_ tell him, but he disappeared five years ago, to the day."

Clyde's eyes showed surprise, "You remembered the _exact_ day?" Dawn nodded, "You must really miss him."

Dawn nodded as tears started to form in her eyes, "No tears you'll ruin your make-up." Clyde said in a parent-like tone and she giggled, "You'll find him someday, no need to worry right."

Dawn smiled, "Did you get that from me?" she asked.

Clyde shook his head, "No." Dawn looked confused, "I heard it from a trainer I meet on the road a week or two ago as I was training. A little bit on the sad side, but he was a powerful trainer none the less." Clyde but the comb down and grabbed a few accessories for her hair.

Before Dawn could question him further he interrupted her, "Okay your hair is now done, now if you'll excuse me. I need to go prep for my appeal. I'll see you in the finals Dawn." And with that Clyde left the room.

Dawn looked in the mirror and admired what Clyde did to her hair. It seemed to sparkle like real sapphires in the right angle of light. It was completely strait and completely void of tangles and static. When she stood up her hair reached all the way to the bottom of her back. It was held back behind her ears by two sparkly silver pins to match her dress and on her head was a silver tiara a lot like the one she for when she posed as Princess Salvia.

As she admired her hair a smile crawled its way onto her flawless face she remembered what Clyde had told her, "Thank you," she quietly said, not because Clyde fixed her hair, but because of what he told her about Ash, "I _will_ find you Ash, and when I do, I _will_ tell you how I feel." She said as she thought about the trainer that can captured her heart.

**-*X*x*X*-**

**Well I hope you were satisfied with Chapter Two.**

**I have cancelled the two contests I have previously put up and I'm starting a new one.**

**Lets see if you can guess the remainder of Ash's pokemon.**

**Here's the list.  
**

**His most powerful  
**

**Latios(mentioned earlier)  
**

**The pokemon from the egg  
**

**His most beautiful pokemon  
**

**His scariest pokemon  
**

**The surprise pokemon  
**

**There's the list, let's see if you can guess them. **

**Here's a huge hint: **_**None**_** of Ash's old pokemon are in this team.**

**This is W. R. Winters signing off.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Welcome to Chapter 3 of Ash's Reason.**

**I hope you enjoy the new chapter. I will be introducing another of Ash's Pokémon this chapter. With the next four chapters after this I'll be introducing a new Pokémon with every chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon, if I did I would make Ash's Reason a Pokémon movie or something like that.**

**-*X*x*X*-**

"Come on Paul, if we're going to get to our seats on time we need to hurry." Ash called to his purple-haired companion. Ash's voice, due to his voice changer, now sounded lower and much darker, and combined with the contacts making Ash's, quite impatient looking, eyes look dark purple, he looked very intimidating.

"I'm coming Jacob don't get your scarf in a twist." Paul grumbled as he caught up with Ash. Whenever Ash went in public he went by the name Jacob Pine so nobody would recognize him, "Look I realize you want to see Dawn perform, but that doesn't give you enough reason to-" Paul was cut off by Ash.

"I'm not wanting to see Dawn I just want to get to our seats!" Ash stormed away.

"Yeah sure whatever," Paul smirked knowing Ash was blushing underneath the scarf covering his face.

About five to ten minutes later Ash and Paul were at their seats waiting for the announcer to say who the first performer was. Paul whispered to Ash, "I think Dawn will be the first one to show off her appeal."

Ash responded, "I hope so too, because then you can stop bugging me about it."

Paul was about to retort when a voice boomed throughout the stadium, "Ladies and gentlemen I, Mr. Contesta, would like to welcome you to this year's Grand Festival Ultimo!" the crowd went wild with cheers and screams as Mr. Contesta appeared on the stage with a spotlight cast upon him. "This is going to be a great year that I know, and I'm proud to be judging it along with Mr. Sukizo and Nurse Joy let's give them a big hand!"

The audience once again erupted into cheers as the spotlight traveled to the other two judges, and Mr. Contesta spoke again, "And now for the announcer for today's Grand Festival Ultimo let us give a warm welcome to Marian!"

Mr. Contesta left the stage and was replaced by Marian, who received several wolf whistles and compliments, "Thank you for that welcome, and now without further ado, let's hear it for our first performer, this top coordinator has come all the have from Hoenn, let's give it up for Nora Smith!"

A girl wearing a stunning, flowing red dress with a rose on the bust along with a rose tied into her blonde hair styled in a curly ponytail with two curled locks framing her face. When Nora's face came up on the big screen, it revealed light brown eyes filled with confidence, a perfectly sculpted face, a beauty mark on her cheek, and she wore a light amount red lip gloss, some pink blush, and orange eye shadow that just made her face look breathtaking. She smoothly took out a pokeball, with a seal that looked like a lightning bolt on it, and tossed in front of her, "Luxray, let's light this up!"

When the pokeball opened and bright blue lightning bolt shot into the air and raced all around the stadium. As the bolt raced around it grew legs and a tail all made of lightning. When it stopped in the middle of the stadium the lightning formed a head and with a bright flash, the lightning dispersed revealing the proud electric-type with a triumphant roar. Nora smiled at the sight of the awestruck audience. From the sidelines Marian spoke up, "Such an amazing seal, she's already sent the audience into shock and she hasn't started her _real _appeal yet."

Nora then commanded her Luxray, "Smokescreen, gather it up into a cloud." Luxray emitted a long stream of black smoke from his mouth and it all gathered into a cloud vaguely shaped like his head, "Now charge up a Thunderbolt and shoot it into the cloud, then do a Thunder followed by a Roar and make sure you control the lightning until you roar." The lion-like Pokémon nodded and his fur started to crackle with electricity, then without warning he shot an enormous beam of blue lightning into the cloud, creating a blue face onto the head. The dark cloud then started to rumbled and two yellow electric eyes and a mouth filled with yellow lightning bolt teeth open on the blue electric face, making the cloud look like an enormous version of a Luxray's head. The head did exactly as the real one did as the Luxray opened his mouth and roared and when the bigger head roared a boom of thunder was heard and the head exploded with a bunch of yellow and blue fireworks. Ending their appeal both Nora curtsied as her Luxray bowed, when they did so, the audience erupted into cheers and giving them a standing ovation.

Back in the stands, Ash and Paul joined in with the cheering, "Wow that was quite a show huh Paul?" Ash heard no response, when Ash turned to look at Paul when was completely speechless as he watched Nora strike her pose. Ash smiled underneath his scarf as he noticed the blush on his cheeks_, 'Me and him are having a talk after this.' _He thought t himself.

"Wow that was just marvelous! Thank you Nora!" Marian said as Nora left the stage, "And now it's time to see the Stoic Statue himself, put your hands together for Clyde Roberts!" The area in the center of the stage exploded with a poof of white smoke and Clyde strolled out of the smoke, cape billowing behind him, with a Weavile by his side.

Clyde's face remained stoic as the audience died down waiting for his move, "Ice shard, and keep them in place in the air." Weavile jumped from his place and started shooting crystals of ice everywhere around the stage until he was surrounded by at least thirty of them, "Now, break all of them using Fury Swipes," Weavile became a blur as he ran through all the crystals breaking every one he passed, until it was practically snowing.

"Now use Agility and run in a circle." Weavile disappeared from view and a small tornado of ice crystal began to form when it was pretty big Weavile ran out from it and it still continued to spin, "Now compress it and release it." Weavile brought his hands together and the tornado of ice compressed to look like a snowflake, and he shot his arms out and the snowflake dispersed the ice crystals small enough to melt when they left the formation.

Clyde and Weavile bowed and the Audience gave them a standing ovation just as they did with Nora, "Very impressive, the snowflake was a nice touch, and did you see the speed of that Weavile," Marian said as they left the stage, "Now it's time for the Sapphire Princess herself, Dawn Berlitz!" Ash sat up in his seat as he heard Dawn's name, he waited for her to appear, and when she did. His, and probably along with all the single guys', jaw dropped, causing his scarf to fall.

Dawn's blue hair sparkled and cascaded down her back stopped at her waist, her figure was perfectly accented by the sparkling silver dress that reached the floor, the dress was a simple silver, but the top of it was covered with dazzling sparkles and designs that looked made of diamonds, a long transparent cape of silver with several designs flowed from the back of the dress as if by magic **(A.N. Anybody want to guess where I got this dress idea from? Hint: The original was colored light blue)**. On the top of her head was a silver diamond tiara that looked like the crown she wore when she posed as Princess Salvia all those years ago. On her face was a slight bit of make-up with silver glittery eye shadow with some sparkles of her cheeks and some pink lip gloss decorating her perfect lips.

She winked at the audience as she drew out her pokeball, "Piplup spotlight!" the pokeball opened and with a flurry of bubbles Piplup appeared speaking happily, "First start charging a Hydro Pump." A small vortex of water appeared in front of Piplup, "Now point it upwards," He did so, "Now get out from underneath it and start Shooting as many bubbles as you can into the vortex, then you know what to do" Piplup ran out from under the vortex and jumped above it and started loading it with hundreds of bubbles, each one disappearing into the vortex. Then Piplup himself jumped into the vortex.

Everybody waited in anticipation to see what would happen, soon a giant column of water shot out of the vortex with Piplup standing on top of it with smaller columns of bubbles shooting at various angles like a giant fountain. After striking a pose he jumped down from his watery perch and landed gracefully and the fountain went back into the vortex and disappeared and Piplup bowed as Dawn curtsied. "Spectacular performance Dawn, Piplup's performance was just marvelous!" Marian said as the audience gave her a standing ovation.

Back with Ash and Paul, Ash was still in shock and Paul noticed it, "Ash close your mouth before a Flygon flies into it." Ash closed his mouth and pulled his scarf back up to hide his identity, and to hide his blush.

Time Lapse **(A.N. Yeah I can do that)**

"Welcome everyone to the Final Round of this year's Grand Festival Ultimo!" the audience cheered loudly and Marian continued, "Competition has been tough and it now comes down to two Top Coordinators competing to become the next King or Queen of Contests! Let's meet our finalists now."

The giant screen above Marian went spit-screen mode and began to quickly scroll through the several faces of the Top Coordinators, "And our first finalist is…" The left half of the screen stopped on the portrait of a certain blunette's face, "… Dawn Berlitz!" In her dazzling dress she walked onto the stage waving to the crowd.

"And Dawn's competition will be…" Everybody turned their attention to the other half of the screen as the scrolling stopped and landed on an emotionless face, "… Clyde Roberts!" Clyde entered from the opposite side Dawn did and the two Top Coordinators went to opposite sides of the stage. Their faces on the screen shrunk and went to the top and a yellow circle appeared below them.

"Piplup spotlight!"

"Weavile make me proud!"

Both of them released their Pokémon and the match timer began. "Weavile use Agility while using your icy claws on the floor." Weavile nodded as frosty air came from his claws and he put them on the ground and charged at blinding speeds in circles around Piplup making a dome of spiny ice surrounding the small penguin Pokémon. Dawn's points went down.

"Piplup, Whirlpool into Drill Peck break out of there!" Piplup's beak grew very long and glowed white and he started to spin and started to shoot water all around him and make an enormous drill of water break out of the dome of ice in a shower of sparkly ice crystals. Clyde's points decreased dramatically.

Piplup kept his Drillpool going and it now had ice crystals swirling in the mix making Piplup's Drillpool combo into an Ice Drillpool combo. Piplup arched his combo and sent it shooting towards Weavile and Piplup jumped out of it and it smashed into Weavile in an impressive display of water and ice and the rest of Clyde's points faded turning his yellow circle black and his picture faded.

"Clyde has lost all of his points so that means that Dawn Berlitz is our newest Queen of Contests!" Everybody, including the judges, leapt up from their seats and starting cheering wildly and chanting Dawn's name.

Tears of joy came to Dawn's eyes as she heard the crowd, she looked briefly at Clyde who only bowed his head slightly and left the stage so Dawn could enjoy the attention.

Half an hour later Ash stood outside the stadium tossing a pokeball between his hands as he thought about Dawn. Then his hand threw the ball into the air releasing the Pokémon inside. The Pokémon when released converted his form and flew around before flying into Ash's arms. Ash laughed as he hugged the grass-type in his arms, "It's good to see you too." The small white and green Pokémon lifted his head and looked up at Ash still as joyful as the day he hatched from the egg Dawn gave him.

Making a decision he said, "Shaymin…?" the Pokémon eyed him curiously, "What do you say we pay Dawn a visit?"

**-*X*x*X*-**

**And done…**

**Can anybody guess where I got the inspiration for Dawn's Contest Dress?**

**So another of Ash's Pokémon is revealed**

**Ash's Strongest**

**Latios**

**Shaymin (The Pokémon from the egg)**

**Ash's scariest**

**Ash's most beautiful**

**Ash's surprise Pokémon**

**Hope you liked it, if you did, please write a review.**

**Here's me… signing off.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Welcome one and all to another chapter of Ash's Reason.**

**I'm quite surprised with the feedback I've been getting from this story, and I've got something to say… If you like my story, please leave a review.**

**This chapter is mainly going to focus on Clyde, but there will be times where Ash and the others will appear.**

**I've noticed that people are started to complain about Pikachu's absence in this story, well I'm going to put an end to your misery and have Pikachu in the next chapter.**

**Disclaimer: Think about it, if I did own Pokémon, would I be writing Fanfiction?**

**-*X*x*X*-**

"Dawn you were absolutely amazing!" May almost screamed as she crushed Dawn with a hug.

"Yeah you were congratulations Dawn." Dawn's newest friend Nora said.

"May I know you're happy, but maybe you can allow Dawn to breathe a little?" A chartreuse haired boy said behind her. May realized what he meant and released her.

"Thanks Drew." Dawn wheezed out as she caught her breath. She had just changed out of her contest dress and was now in her casual dress. A blue cardigan over a white t-shirt with jeans and some black heeled boots, she no longer wore a beanie on her head, just a hairband to keep her hair back, which was long enough to reach her lower back.

She was currently with her three best friends, May, Drew and Nora. All three were fellow coordinators from Hoenn. She still kept in touch with the others, but these three she always kept close to.

May still wore her green and orange outfit from when she visited Ash and Dawn during the Wallace Cup, but her hair was styled in a long low ponytail.

Drew still had the same hairstyle that he could flip, and it still drove girls crazy, but since word got out that he had a girlfriend; May. His group of fan girls eventually died down. With his fan girls gone, combined with his relationship with May; Drew had actually become less conceited and prideful, in fact he had become quite a selfless person. But it still didn't mean that his attitude wasn't much different, he would still flip his hair from time to time, and sometimes he couldn't help but make an obnoxious comment. His outfit was currently a black polo shirt with the top new buttons undone, with dark colored jeans and navy blue sneakers.

Then there's Nora, she met Dawn while she was doing the contest circuit in Hoenn. She still had her hair in a ponytail with the rose in it, but she was wearing a black skirt, a red, sleeveless blouse with a flower patter on it, with silver heels and a bracelet on her wrist.

"I just can't believe you went up against Clyde and won!" May explained.

"I know, how do you think he's feeling about the loss?" Dawn asked sounding a little concerned.

Drew shrugged, "Who knows what goes on in that boy's head."

"I agree; he can be rather mysterious." A new voice said.

They turned around and saw a boy around their age or a year or two older looking at them. He was mainly in the shadows so they couldn't see his face. He stepped out into the light and they saw he had long, neat, ebony black hair. His eyes were the color of a dark amethyst; his skin was tanned and marked with several scars. He had a dark silver scarf around his neck, a partially unzipped hoodie with the sleeves pushed up a little, a t-shirt, pants, shoes, and a cap on his head; all were colored black.

The mysterious teen smiled at the group, and they noticed there was some dirt on both of his cheeks. "Hello everyone," His voice was low and dark sounding, "It's been a long time Drew."

Drew gritted his teeth, "Yes it has Jacob." The three girls around him widen their eyes.

Dawn was the first to speak "Wait, Jacob Pine?"

Ash nodded his head at the mention of his fake name, "So you've heard of me?"

May nodded her head, "Only that you're a coordinator _and_ a Pokémon trainer."

Nora, who was a little nervous talking to Ash because of her shy behavior around strangers, asked, "Do you have _her_ with you?"

Ash removed a pokeball from his belt and threw it into the air, From the pokeball emerged a heart made of white a pink flames, when the heart vanished a Pokémon was left in its place, "Ninetales," the Fox Pokémon cried with an angelic roar. The Pokémon was gorgeous and breathtaking, for this Ninetales wasn't like any other Ninetales. Her fur was the color of freshly fallen show, and the fur on the ends of her tails and the fur that came up between her ears were a shimmering gold. On all four of her legs there were gold patterns of fur going up her legs that looked like flames. Her eyes glittered like yellow diamonds on her flawless face.

"She's even more beautiful in person." Dawn said the Ninetales looked away as if she was embarrassed.

Ash chuckled, "Yes she is, behold my most beautiful Pokémon; Belle." He walked forward and stroked her neck. "You've seen her in person before Drew."

"Yes, twice," Drew replied the girls looked at drew in confusion, "Last year when I was in the Johto contest circuit, I beat Jacob here in the Wallace Cup, only to have him completely school me in the Johto Grand Festival."

"Yeah you should've seen the look on his face. His face went so red I swear his head was replaced with a tomato with a very bushy stem." Drew blushed as everybody laughed.

May eventually stopped laughing and walked toward him, "Don't worry Drew, it doesn't matter if you look like a tomato," She wrapped her arms around his neck, "Because I'll love you just the same." Drew smiled sweetly at May before pulling her in for a kiss.

Ash rolled his eyes at the scene, "Oh brother, Drew why don't you just propose to her already and get a room!"

Both Drew and May separated with blushes on their faces. Belle seemed to smile at the display of affection and walked forward and nuzzled the couple, and as she did it, her gold fur, along with her eyes, turned pink. "What was that?"

Ash looked at Belle's color change, "Oh that?" they nodded, "Well along with her being a different color than the rest of her race, her gold fur can change color when she senses romance and love. The color changes depending on the strength of the love, and judging by the strong, yet gentle, shade of pink May and Drew have a perfectly steady and loving relationship." The group continued to talk, but little did they know, they were being watched.

Clyde looked and the group of five and Belle and nodded, "Yes she is special, just like the rest of your Pokémon." He said to himself as he remembered what Ash has gone through as he's trained.

_Flashback_

_Ash released from the handshake and looked at Clyde and Paul. "Okay, where do we start?"_

_Paul turned toward Clyde, "That's for Clyde to decide."_

_Clyde's stoic expression never changed, __**'Ash needs a team… a very 'special' team.' **__A voice echoed in their heads._

_Ash looked in around in surprise, "Where did that come from?!" he asked in astonishment._

'_**It came from me; Clyde.' **__Ash looked at Clyde in amazement, __**'I have the ability to project my thoughts into peoples' minds, which explains why I don't talk very much.'**_

_Ash nodded, "Okay, but it's going to take some time to getting used to." Paul chuckled, "So what did you mean by a 'special team'?"_

_Clyde simply walked out the door with Paul and Ash following him. When they got out side, Clyde proceeded to walk into the woods, they kept walking until Clyde gestured them to stop. Then Clyde grabbed something around his neck and closed his eyes. After a few minutes a swirling pink vortex appeared in front of them._

_Clyde quickly jumped through without a second thought, when Clyde landed he looked at what his friend had given them. In front of him was a large white house and surrounding it was a large reserve filled with several different environments for various types of Pokémon._

_Clyde heard two people land on the ground behind him, so he turned around and saw Ash on top of Paul in a head on the ground. Ash got up first, "Where are we?"_

_Clyde made a motion with his hand, __**'This is where you will earn your new teams, and build up your strength to become the most powerful trainers in all of history.'**_

_Paul got up, "But my team is already good enough, so why am I here?"_

'_**To train Ash while I get his Pokémon.'**_

_Ash was confused, "Wait isn't this supposed to be my team? And why does Paul need to train me if I don't have any Pokémon?"_

'_**Yes it will be your team, but I will determine who is worthy to be on your team, I will need to find five specific types; strength, beauty, speed, a neutral party, and terrifying.'**_

"_But I already have two Pokémon with me, Pikachu and the Pokémon in this egg."_

_Clyde nodded in agreement, __**'I know, but you are going to need a spare Pokémon on hand if one of your Pokémon is unable to fight, and Paul needs to train you physically and mentally to become a better trainer'**_

_Ash's confused expression faded, "Okay that makes sense, so who's going to be on my team?"_

_Clyde shrugged, __**'I don't know. I have a special test to determine who will be on your team. I will put all the young Pokémon who believe they are worthy of you in a specific environment. The goal there; is to survive for two to three months, those who do survive I will split into different groups depending on what Pokémon I'm looking for, then my Pokémon will decide who's the best of those Pokémon. Those Pokémon they choose will be your new team.'**_

_Clyde then walked away from the two trainers and disappeared into the house. He followed a few corridors before going into a secret room. In that room there were several large television screens, and in the center of the room was a pedestal, and on it, was a large pink pearl. Clyde walked towards it and put his hand on it, he could then feel the minds of every Pokémon in the reserve._

'_**Friends, your caretaker has returned and requires a favor. I have a friend who's in need of a very special Pokémon team. I need one of each of these categories; strength, beauty, a neutral party terrifying and speed. I need Pokémon I can be proud of! Can you give me that? If you think you're worthy, gather at the Arena of Bellators.' **__Clyde removed his hand from the pearl and watched the screen. _

_The Arena of Bellators wasn't an actual arena; it was just a cluster of the harshest environments of the entire reserve. It was where Pokémon came to prove their strength, if they couldn't survive for three months… well let's just say that they're now with Arceus in the Hall of Origins._

_After half an hour of waiting the screen lit up and showed a picture of hundreds, maybe even thousands, of Pokémon waiting to prove their worth. Clyde put his hand on the pearl again, __**'A large group… good. Now it's time to see who is worthy to join the team of Ash Ketchum!' **__Then all of the Pokémon were teleported away to different part of the arena. Clyde took his hand off the pearl and pressed a button on a nearby keypad, a few minutes later a number appeared on the screen. '2,832' it read; which meant currently there were 2,832 Pokémon in the arena currently. Clyde closed his eyes and sighed mournfully, "Don't worry Clyde, it will be worth it in the end." He said to reassure himself._

_Three months passed quickly, and during that time. Ash had grown physically and mentally. As Clyde was watching one of Ash's training sessions, Ash asked him, "So Clyde, how are Pikachu and the egg."_

'_**They are well, pretty soon the egg will hatch, and you'll have another Pokémon to work with.'**__ Clyde responded. Ash smiled and returned to his training. Clyde walked away and returned to his secret room. He put his hands on the pearls, __**'It is over, you have survived.' **__He removed his hand and moved to the keypad and pressed the button. '143' it read._

_Flashback end_

A tear slid down Clyde's cheek, "So many lost," he muttered, Clyde allowed his usual stoic expression to become sad as more tears came out of his eyes as he remembered that day. He closed his eyes as more and more tears came. He could still feel how weak his heart felt that day.

_Flashback_

_Clyde now stood in front of the screen that showed many of the Pokémon that didn't make it. "They died to prove themselves, they tried and that what matters." Clyde spent the next several hours gathering up the Pokémon, and arranging a ceremony for all the Pokémon who tried._

_Clyde then looked at the 143 that had survived; most of them had a sad face. Clyde jumped from the balcony and landed on front of the group. He smiled at them, __**'Don't be sad, they perished well and will be remembered… by us.' **__All the Pokémon looked up and nodded._

_Clyde took out five pokeballs, "Come on out guys." And he released his Pokémon Blastoise, Ampharos, Weavile, Scolipede, and Rhydon. Clyde had a specific assignment for each of them. "I have a favor to ask each of you, train the Pokémon I assign to you, but in a few days. Choose one of them and only train them." They all nodded_

_Clyde projected his mind to a specific group of Pokémon, 47 stepped forward, "Rhydon, I need a Pokémon so strong he or she should be considered a legendary, these are the Pokémon you need to choose from, only one of them is the one I need." Rhydon nodded and walked away and the 47 followed him._

_Clyde projected his mind, 23 Pokémon stepped forward, "Weavile, I need a Pokémon so fast he or she can be able to break the sound barrier without using Agility." Weavile sped off along with the other Pokémon._

_Clyde did the same as before, this time 30 moved forward, "Scolipede, give me a Pokémon so terrifying, even Darkari would have nightmares after messing with him or her." Scolipede scuttled off and the others followed him._

_23 steeped forward when Clyde called them, "Ampharos, give me the most beautiful Pokémon you can give me. One so beautiful, Garveviors and Milotics would look like Garbodors and Muks when compared to this beauty." Ampharos nodded and gracefully walked away and the others followed her._

_Clyde turned towards Blastoise and the remaining 20, "Give me a neutral party Blastoise; you'll know which one is the one I need." Then Clyde walked away from the group._

_When Clyde returned to Ash, he was breathing heavily and soaked with sweat. __**'Take a break Ash, your egg is about to hatch and I think you'll want to be there in order to see it.'**_

_Clyde led Ash to where he was keeping the egg. When Ash got close to it, he picked it up. It then started to shake violently and it exploded in Ash's hands. Lying in the eggs place was a sleeping, baby Shaymin. Who soon yawned and opened his eyes as if he woke up from deep sleep, his emerald eyes dancing with cheerfulness._

_When Ash turned to look at Clyde, he held out a pink scarf towards Ash, __**'The scarf was made from the petals of a Gracidea Flower; this scarf will have the same affects as the actual flower.'**__ Ash took the scarf and tied it around the Shaymin's neck, and then he converted into sky form. __**'I'll give you some time with him, but soon he'll need to train, and I have just the Pokémon to do it.' **__Clyde watched as Ash ran off to play with his new friend._

_Days past and Clyde was expecting news from his Pokémon any day now._

_As Clyde was walking back to the house he sensed two presences near him, he turned and saw some of his Pokémon had returned. "Ampharos, Weavile, back already?" both Pokémon nodded. "Well since you're here, you might as well give me a status report." He reached for something attached to his ear and turned it on; he had it installed so he could understand his Pokémon._

"_Weavile you first, then Ampharos can give he his report."_

_The Weavile nodded, 'Well for starters, all the Pokémon have proven to be very fast, sometimes my eyes can barely keep up with them, but there's one that stands out, and it's not because he's a Latios.'_

_Clyde's face didn't change, but he was surprised none the less, "A Latios you say?" the dark-ice type nodded, "Well, keep up the good work and keep an eye on that Latios." Weavile nodded and speed off in literally the blink of an eye._

_Clyde turned his attention to the electric type, "So what news do you bring?"_

_Ampharos hesitated before answering, 'Well, I have three candidates that are both powerful, in skills, looks, and style. It's hard to choose, so I was thinking you could come with me to the training grounds and check them for yourself.'_

_Clyde thought for a minute before shrugging, "Might as well, I have nothing more important to do right now." Clyde followed Ampharos do the location where he's been training and judging the Pokémon who claim they're the most beautiful. Ampharos led Clyde to a special area where three Pokémon were playing with each other; a Ralts, a Petil, and a Vulpix. It was the Vulpix that caught Clyde's eye._

_While most Vulpix were red orange, this one was cream colored like a Ninetales, and her tails, the fur on her head, and her eyes were a darker shade in comparison, looking more like caramel that cream. After observing the three, he formulated a plan._

_Clyde walked forward and when he was a few yards he 'tripped' and fell to the ground. As he was getting up he heard the Ralts and the Petil were giggling at him falling. He got into a kneeling position and started to rub his shin, when he felt something warm nuzzle his leg; he looked over and saw the Vulpix._

_He eyed her curiously and she shyly asked him, 'A-are you alright?' her voice was shy, but had the musical tone of an angel. Clyde smiled at the Vulpix and just softly stroked her back, after a few minutes he stood up and went back to Ampharos._

_As they were walking back Ampharos asked, 'What was that all about?'_

_Clyde looked at Ampharos, "I have decided Vulpix is the one you'll train."_

'_Okay, but why?'_

"_Beauty comes from the outside _and_ the outside." Ampharos only nodded and walked away._

_Flashback end_

"CLYDE!"

Clyde came back from his memories and turned to see Paul looking at him, **'What?'**

Paul pointed a hand at Ash and the rest of them, "I think it's time we made our appearance. Didn't you?"

Clyde's mouth twitched, **'Yes, I think it's time we did.'**

**-*X*x*X*-**

**And there's Chapter 4.**

**I hope you enjoyed it, would've been up sooner, but I had school stuff and I was helping with this musical… but that's not important.**

**New Contest: Can anybody guess Clyde's sixth Pokémon?**

**This is W. R. Winters signing off.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Welcome back. Here it is; the 5****th**** chapter.**

**Another one of Ash's Pokémon will be revealed, and Pikachu will be in this chapter.**

**So without further ado… on with the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: Do I have to say it every time... *Sigh* I don't own Pokémon**

**-*X*x*X*-**

"So you're planning on competing in the Annual World League Jacob?" Dawn asked Ash.

Ash grinned with a bit of pride, "Yeah, they would've invited me last year, but they couldn't find me in time. I'm always on the move."

May was curious about something, "So, did you have any traveling partners or companions with you?"

"Yes, two actually. One is a Top Coordinator; the other is a Pokémon Trainer like me." Ash explained.

Nora knew they were all thinking the same question so she decided to just get it out in the open, "Did you ever meet anybody named Ash on your travels?"

Ash was surprised, that was a question he wasn't expecting, "Why, is he a friend of yours?"

Nora grew nervous because she didn't like to talk about Ash, especially with Dawn around. Before she could answer Drew beat her to it, "Yeah he is a good friend of ours, but we haven't seen him for five years. Considering you've traveled a lot, we thought maybe you might know where he is."

Before Ash could answer he was interrupted, "Yes we do know where he is." Ash paled when he recognized the voice.

"Paul, Clyde?!" Dawn May, and Drew said at the same time in surprise.

"What are you doing here?" May asked.

Paul smirked, "Well we were supposed to meet up with Jacob ten minutes ago, but we couldn't find him."

Clyde nodded and spoke, "Then we saw him talking to you guys and we decided to see what was up."

"Though we only heard the last couple sentences about Ash so we decided to jump into this conversation." Paul continued.

They all looked at Ash, "Yes; Clyde and Paul are my traveling companions."

Dawn was starting to get hopeful, "So you know where Ash is?" They nodded, "Where?"

Ash looked at Paul, he nodded. Then he looked at Clyde, **'You knew it would happen eventually, so it might as well be now.'** Clyde projected into only Ash and Paul's minds.

Ash sighed and lowered his head so his cap covered his face, "Ok, I'll tell you." They looked at Ash in anticipation as they waited for his answer.

Ash brought a hand up and rubbed his eyes, he was going to take out the contact, but he stopped. "I've always known where he is, ever since he first disappeared, but before I tell you I do have one question." He looked up and glared at them, "If you want to find him, why did you send him away in the first place?"

May and Drew looked a little guilty, Dawn looked down, and Nora simply looked away. Dawn was the first to speak, "We never wanted him to leave, at least not _us_ anyway." Ash eyed her curiously, "Ever since he disappeared, we've been looking for him so we could say sorry. Drew and May have regretted what they did ever since he left. They didn't even know what they were doing, almost like they were being controlled." Unbeknownst to everyone the corners Clyde's mouth twitched when he heard that last part.

Ash nodded and brought a hand to his eyes and a hand to the back of his neck. He detached the voice changer and put it into his pocket. He lowered his head to hide his eyes and his other hand took out the colored contacts. Then he brought out a water bottle, he put some water on his hands and started rubbing his cheeks to get rid of the dirt.

Ash closed his eyes and looked up revealing the z's on his cheeks, "I've always known where Ash is," His voice sounded more mature, but they still recognized it. Ash opened his eyes to reveal their true chocolate brown coloring, "Because I _am_ Ash."

The group in front of Ash was struck with amazement. They were expecting something like a location or his next competition, not Jacob to reveal the he himself was Ash.

After a few moments of silence Paul erupted into laughter at the sight of the group in front of him. Dawn was the first to come out of his daze and she walked towards Ash. Before Ash could say anything, he was interrupted by a harsh slap to the face. Ash's cheek soon showed a red handprint, "I guess I deserved that."

Dawn then leapt at Ash throwing her arms around his neck and hugged him as tears came to her eyes and rolled down her cheeks and she cried into Ash's shoulder, tears being absorbed by the soft fabric of his shirt.

When Dawn pulled away from Ash, the first thing she noticed was the scarf around his neck. Following her gaze Ash looked down and the scarf. Then he reached into his shirt and pulled out the golden medallion, "No need to worry?" He said in a teasing voice.

Dawn smiled and her cheeks turned a cute shade of pink, "That's when I worry the most."

When she stepped away from Ash, May and Drew walked up to him, "Ash?" May asked.

"I'll say yes if you promise not to slap me." May laughed and punched him in the shoulder, quite hard, "Damn it, I hate loopholes." Ash muttered as he rubbed his shoulder. Ash turned his attention to Drew.

"So it was you that beat me back in Johto?" Ash nodded, both teens stared each other down before erupting with laughter. Drew clapped him on the shoulder, "Good to have you back, Ash."

Paul spoke up, "Hey Ash, why don't you show them your most powerful Pokémon?" Everybody agreed with Paul, even Clyde.

Ash looked at the group watching him, "Okay I guess you all should see the Pokémon that going to get me very far in the League this year." Ash removed a pokeball from his pocket, "Come on out Ceraxis." A white beam emerged from the pokeball and faded away to reveal a large orange dragon.

"Dragonite!" the colossal Pokémon roared while stomping one of his large paws on the ground, causing a large tremor and the group to step back from the large dragon-type.

"I would've thought your most powerful would've been Pikachu." Drew commented before turning towards Ash, "Where is he anyway?" Ash's expression grew dark and his face now looked several years older as he frowned, "What did I say?" Drew asked slowly seeing his expression.

Ash closed his eyes and a few years ran down his cheeks, "Pikachu is dead." His voice sounded hollow and sad. Everyone, save for Clyde and Paul looked at him in shock, "It happened a little more than one year after I disappeared."

As Ash told the story, Clyde closed his eyes and ran the memory through his mind.

_Flashback_

"_Okay Belle, let's try it one more time. Use Fire Spin." Belle twirled around and flames grew around her feet, "Now put everything you've got into those flames." The orange flames grew brighter before glowing with a white flame, and a few seconds later a giant column of flame surrounded Belle and shot nearly a hundred feet into the air. After keeping it up for a minute it faded leaving most of the ground around Belle completely scorched._

'_**Belle is improving greatly.' **__Ash turned around and saw Clyde standing a few feet away._

"_I agree she is an amazing Pokémon." Belle gold fur turned pink at the praise she was receiving._

'_**Go on Belle, take a break. Your training session is over and Ash needs to train Pikachu for a bit.' **__Belle nodded and padded off. When she was out of sight Clyde's voice echoed in Ash's head. __**'You've told me a lot about Pikachu, but I don't know what he's capable of. I'm going to run him through a series of tests to prove his power to see what he needs to improve in.' **__Ash nodded and left to go find Pikachu._

_For the rest of the day, Clyde tested Pikachu's stamina, agility, speed, endurance, reflexes, maneuverability, strength, and balance. Pikachu was now working on his last exercise for the day; aim. Clyde had Weavile and Blastiose shoot Ice Shards and Hydro Cannons and Pikachu had to hit them with his Thunderbolts._

_When his training session was over Pikachu looked utterly exhausted, Clyde walked over to the little electric mouse. __**'You are definitely an interesting case Pikachu, you've excelled at all your tests except one; endurance, and there's something else.' **__Pikachu looked up at Clyde, __**'It's nothing for now, get some sleep. I'll put you through your last test tomorrow, if you pass that test, then I'll know exactly what needs to be done.'**__ Pikachu ran off in order to get as much sleep as he could before his test._

_The next day Ash and Pikachu were following Clyde along a rocky path leading to the top of a tall grey mountain, the sky was completely covered by dark grey clouds and the weather was getting a little stormy with the wind picking up with some rain drops starting to fall._

_When they got to the end of the path, Ash and Pikachu saw that the top of the mountain looked like a large chunk of it was cut out it, because they were looking at a large stone wall with the very top of the mountain on top of it, and carved into the wall were five caves. The area they were standing it seemed to be vaguely shaped like an oval and in the center was a yellow metal hexagon "What are we doing here Clyde?"_

_Clyde held up a hand for him to be quiet, __**'Pikachu, go stand on the yellow platform.' **__Pikachu did as he was told, __**'Now no matter what you do, don't leave that platform.' **__Pikachu nodded, __**'Friends, you know what to do.' **__Ash a Pikachu had a feeling he wasn't talking to them._

_One by one, a Pokémon stepped out of each of the five caves. The first one was a Jolteon, who came out of the cave farthest one from the cave farthest to the right. The second was a Manectric; the cave he came from mirrored the Jolteon's. The third was an Eelektross. The fourth was an Electivire, and like Jolteon and Manectric their caves mirrored each other's. Then the fifth and final Pokémon emerged from the largest cave, the middle one. The Pokémon, much to Ash and Pikachu's amazement was the legendary Pokémon Zekrom._

_Zekrom stopped on the ground using Electric Terrain with caused to ground beneath them to crackle with blue electricity. Then every one of them started to use Charge._

_Then they all used an electric attack all at the same time, and all of them hit Pikachu. Manectric and Jolteon both shot a continuous Thunderbolt. Eelektross and Electivire each used a Thunder, both attacks shot at several different angles from the surrounding storm clouds overhead. Zekrom was the last to use his move; he started surrounding and covering his body with blue electricity._

"_What's he doing?" Ash asked. __**'Electrify.' **__Clyde answered._

_When Zekrom finished using Electrify, he started using Charge again. Then he started to charge a Hyper Beam, and his electric started to flow into the Hyper Beam turning it blue and causing it to become an electric type attack, and Zekrom's Charge caused the Electric Hyper Beam to grow a lot stronger. Then Zekrom released the enormous beam of pure electric energy aiming it strait at Pikachu. When the beam hit Pikachu an orb of electric energy started to form around the electric mouse Pokémon._

_Seeing the orb Clyde turned around and grabbed Ash and started to run down the path. Feeling the power of all the electricity and the intensity of the storm to increase dramatically; Clyde started sprinting down the path as fast as he could, "Where are we going!?" Ash shouted over the storm._

'_**Away from here.'**__ Clyde stated._

"_Pikachu's still up there!"_

'_**I know I will send Ampharos to fetch him as soon as we get out of harm's way!' **__Clyde shouted in Ash's mind._

"_Wha-" Ash started to say before Clyde suddenly cut him off and started running towards a sheer drop where the path took a sharp turn. Clyde didn't stop running and went right off the edge, pulling Ash along with him. Before Ash could scream at Clyde for being crazy, Clyde brought two fingers to his lips and let out a loud and harsh whistle._

_A few seconds later, two unusually large Salamence appeared under them and caught them. __**'GET US AWAY FROM THAT DAMN MOUNTAIN RIGHT NOW AS FAST AS YOU CAN!' **__both dragon types took off with blinding speeds away from the grey mountain_

_The Salamence landed a few miles away from the mountain and the two trainers jumped off their backs. The first thing Ash did was turn towards the mountain, who's peak was glowing yellow and blue. "What's going to happen to Pikachu?"_

'_**I don't know.'**_

_Ash whirled towards Clyde, "HOW CAN YOU POSSIBLY NOT KNOW?!"_

'_**Because this test always has a different result depending of what Pokémon takes it. Pikachu should feel honored, this test is only given to the best electric types, and none of them were in the second evolutionary state.' **__Clyde took out a pokeball and released Ampharos, __**'Ampharos, I had Pikachu take the Voltage Test.' **__Ampharos' eyes widened, __**'I know, but I needed to. I need you to go retrieve Pikachu after **_**it**_** happens.'**__ Ampharos and used Agility and ran towards the mountain._

"_What's _it_?!" Clyde only put a pair of dark sunglasses on Ash and pointed towards the mountain. Ash turned towards the mountain just in time to see the electricity surrounding the mountain compress into one point before completely dispersing with an incredibly bright flash followed by an incredibly large booming noise and causing the ground to shake. Ash was thrown off balance and fell down and his head land quite hard on a rock and he slipped into unconsciousness._

_When Ash woke up, he was in a bed in the house with an ice pack tied to his head. Ash was a little confused for a second, and then all the memories came back to him in a large rush. The mountain, the electricity, the flash, and… "Pikachu!" he said out loud._

_Paul poked his head into the room, "Oh good you're awake." Paul walked fully into the room, "For a second we thought you were going to slip into a coma."_

"_Where's Pikachu?" Ash said in a firm voice._

"_Don't worry he survived, he's just in a bad condition." Ash sighed in relief, "But there is some bad news, Pikachu's condition may become critical. Clyde working on some remedies and he's doing everything he can. So I wouldn't worry too much." After Paul said that Clyde walked into the room._

"_How's Pikachu?"_

'_**He's seen better days.' **__Ash opened his mouth to say something, but Clyde kept going, __**'Pikachu is in the state that he's in because of all that lightning. Pikachu had absorbed to much electricity. So he did the only thing he could do; he released all of it. Unfortunately Pikachus aren't supposed to be releasing that kind of energy, so the strain and power it took to release it all completely drained Pikachu of most of his electrical power. Good this there was still enough electricity in his body to keep his heart and brain working or else he wouldn't be with us currently.'**_

"_What's going to happen to him?"_

_Clyde hesitated before answering, "There's only one thing I can do now." Ash was surprised Clyde never talked out loud, except for when he was talking to Pokémon, "I can have Ampharos send a small wave of electricity into Pikachu's cheeks; where his energy pockets are located. If it works he will be able to fight again, and use more powerful moves because he'll be able to use more amounts of electricity."_

"_And if it doesn't work." Ash had to ask._

_Clyde sighed, "There are two consequences if it doesn't work. He would be unable to use even the weakest electric attack without the risk of causing his body to shut down, or… Pikachu will pass into the Hall of Origin."_

_Ash closed his eyes and sighed, "I can give my translator and you can talk this over with Pikachu before making your final decision. It would also give you a chance to talk to him one last time… just in case." Ash looked up, opened his eyes, and nodded. Clyde took the device from his ear and handed it to Ash. Ash put the device in his ear and headed towards Pikachu's room._

_When Ash walked in he saw Pikachu looked fine, he just looked really tired, exhausted, and above all weak and vulnerable. "Hey Pikachu, how are you doing?"_

_The electric type looked at his trainer, "Clyde talked to me before he told you so I know you can understand me, and I'm feeling as good as any Pokémon in my state can feel." _

_Ash gave a sad chuckle and sat in a chair beside the bed, "You know what could happen if it doesn't work." Pikachu nodded, "Are you willing to take that chance?" Pikachu nodded again, "Well, do you have any last words to say to me if it doesn't work."_

_Pikachu thought for a minute before answering, "No matter what happens you must know that Clyde is on your side." Ash nodded, "Tell Paul I always thought he, along with his Pokémon, were among the strongest I've ever faced, and I always enjoyed battling him." Ash felt tears welling in his eyes, "Make sure you tell her how you feel, and you know who I'm talking about, and while you're at it. Try to tell Bunerary that I always loved her, I was just young and too immature to see it." Ash nodded._

"_Is that all?"_

_Pikachu shook his head, "This message is for you and Clyde, and I want him in the room when I say it." Ash called Clyde in here and he came in, "Do me one thing, and try to find what it is that you truly want. Don't let others control who you are, the only people that can determine the kind of person you are is yourself. Not your friends, not your Pokémon, not your family. Goodbye guys, I'll see you again one day." Pikachu then closed his eyes and let out one final breath before passing._

_Both Ash and Clyde stared at the little yellow Pokémon in front of them. Tears welled up in both of their eyes and they each cried softly for Pikachu's death._

_Later that day, all of Ash, Clyde, and Paul's Pokémon, along with several of the reserve's Pokémon had gathered for Pikachu's funeral. Clyde had arranged a special ceremony for him; he was buried on the highest hill in the reserve where a vast field of yellow flowers grew. His grave was a life-sized statue of Pikachu made from solid gold on top of a stone pedestal about three feet tall. Most everybody had paid their respects and now it was Clyde's turn._

_He stepped forward and kneeled I front of the grave marker and spoke, he was speaking out loud and projecting his thoughts to make sure they heard them, __**"Amicus reliquit, omnes nos respice ad aliquid, sed excessum, nam omnes volumus esse aliquid. Quia anima eius in nobis, quamdiu vivimus." **__Ash recognized the language, but he didn't fully understand it. Clyde stood up and turned towards everyone. His butterscotch brown scanned everyone in the crowd, but his gaze lingered on Ash. Clyde didn't say anything more; he only started to walk away. The crowd parted as he came near and Clyde slowly kept walking until he was out of sight. _

_Some of the slowly began to sing softly, nobody could fully understand the words, but nobody really cared. Ash listened to the soft melody as he looked and the small monument, "I promise Pikachu, I promise." He softly said to himself._

_Flashback Ends_

Everybody in the room had tears in their eyes from hearing the story of the death of their old friend. Dawn walked forward and hugged Ash softly hoping to comfort him, "I'm so sorry that all this has happened to you."

Ash Pulled away from the hug and looked at the blunette in front him, he brought a hand up to her face and caressed it while wiping some of her tears away and smiled, "It's alright Dawn, it's alright. No need to worry." Dawn smiled at Ash, she wanted to kiss him right then and there, but before she could avoice interrupted.

"Well look who it is, Ash Ketchum. It's been a long time hasn't it."

Ash narrowed his eyes and turned towards the voice, "Yes it has _Trip_."

**-*X*x*X*-**

**And that's a wrap. I hope you're satisfied with what the chapter.**

**So we finally found out what happened to Pikachu, I just hope you don't kill me for it.**

**Let's look at Ash's Pokemon.**

**Strongest: Ceraxis the Dragonite**

**Beautiful: Belle the Nintales**

**Egg: Shaymin**

**Fastest: Latios**

**Scariest: Still up for guessing**

**Neutral Party: Still up for guessing**

**I hope you enjoyed it, I'll try to update soon.**

**If you have any pointers I'd love to hear them. Also I hope to get 50 total reviews before I update. That doesn't mean I won't work on the chapter until that happens, that just what I want to happen by the time I finish the next chapter.**

**This is W. R. Winters signing off**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey everybody I'm back. **

**I just want to say, thanks for the reviews, I was expect to get to 50 not 60.**

**Another of Ash's Pokémon will be revealed don't you worry.**

**Also I've come up with another contest: Has anybody noticed that Clyde only has five Pokémon? If so, try to take a guess on what Pokémon it is?**

**And another thing just to clear things up; CLYDE IS NOT A MARY SUE! At least that wasn't what I wanted him to be.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon, if I did, things would be totally different.**

**-*X*x*X*-**

Trip may have gotten taller and his hair may have been longer, but other than that. Nothing had changed about him in the past five years. Trip smirked at Ash, "So the hermit has finally left his cave." His voice still slightly angered Ash, "Tell me Ash, where have you been all these years? I've been looking for easy trainer to beat."

Ash clenched and unclenched his fists, "For your information, I've been off training and preparing for the next Annual World League."

Trip nodded, "I'm impressed hopefully I'll be able to face you sometime during the league." Ash didn't believe him for a second, "It will give me great pleasure beating you again." Ash tried his best to keep his anger under control.

"Who says you're going to beat me?" Ash asked.

Trip's smirk only grew, "Do you not remember that day, five years ago was it? You were hoping to win the league, yet you failed when you lost to me before you could get to the semi-finals." Mentioning that league opened an old wound, "Then a week later even your closest friends and family saw how weak you were, you should've listened to them when they told you to stop. Maybe Pikachu would still be alive if that happened."

"Shut up Trip." Ash growled his voice practically dripped venom.

"What can't handle the truth Ashy-boy?" Ash closed his eyes to hold himself back, but was having more and more trouble restraining his anger, "I'm going to spell it out for you. You're destined to fail every league; you're a disgrace to your family. No wonder your dad left you."

Ash was about to leap at Trip when a hand gripped his shoulder, Ash turned around and glared at whoever was holding him back; it was Clyde. When Ash's friends got a better view of his face they noticed something; his eyes were no longer chocolate brown, they were a harsh silver blue. **'Ash, be patient, one day you will get back at him, just not today.' **Clyde spoke into his mind.

Ash felt his rage drain at a rapid pace, almost unnaturally, he closed his eyes and sighed, when he opened them again, they were back to their regular color. He turned back to Trip, "Why don't you do us all a favor and leave us alone."

Trip raised an eyebrow, "Who's going to make me?" Ash growled, turned around and stormed away. And everyone else followed, all except Clyde. Clyde and Trip had a bit of a staring contest, "So why aren't you going off with those weaklings you call-" Trip was cut off when his own fist smashed into his face and he stumbled backwards. When Trip looked at Clyde with wide eyes he saw something truly terrifying.

Clyde was smiling quite evilly, his eyes were slightly narrowed, and his eyes were no longer butterscotch brown, they were glowing and the color of molten gold. As Trip continued to stare at him, his grin and eyes faded to normal. When Clyde could clearly see Trip was scared, he turned around and went back to his friends.

When Clyde caught up with the group, he saw Ash wasn't with them. "Where's Ash?" he asked.

Dawn spoke up, "He walked into the forest, and when we tried to go with him. He said he needed some alone time."

Clyde thought for a minute, "Which direction did he go?" she pointed the way. Clyde thanked her and Clyde walked in that direction. About ten minutes later he was getting impatient, "Where could he be?" he said to himself?" Clyde then heard a yell of rage followed small explosion, "Something tells me he's over there."

A few more minutes of walking and Clyde was at the outline of what looked like a battleground, there were scorch marks, craters, fallen trees, and shattered rocks everywhere you looked. Clyde saw Ash glaring at a boulder larger than he was, **'You shouldn't let Trip affect you like this Ash.'** Ash turned towards Clyde, his eyes the same silvery blue as before.

"It's just something about him that makes me feel so angry." Clyde gave him a look to continue, "I guess that all my anger built up over the years has just been focused on one person; _him_. Sometimes I just want to…" He didn't finish, his eyes just started to glow, he roared and he turned towards the while blasting a blue beam from his palm and completely obliterating the large boulder in front of him with a small explosion.

Clyde shook his head, **'You need to keep better control, remember the last time you were like this?'** Ash nodded, this wasn't the first time he was like this. There was one other time when he lost control; it was the day after Pikachu died.

_Flashback_

_Ash hadn't left the meadow for hours, he just stood in the same place and stared at the small gold statue marking Pikachu's grave. Ash's eyes were bloodshot from his crying he tightened his eyes to stop the tears from coming. He forced himself not to think of Pikachu's death, he tried to keep his mind off of it, but the same thing kept popping up; Clyde. _

_If Clyde hadn't forced Pikachu to take that test, he would still be alive. He knew Pikachu said Clyde is his friend, but that didn't make up for the fact that Clyde pretty much murdered Pikachu. Clyde said he didn't know the consequences of the test, but what if he was lying? What if he did, and just didn't want Ash to think Pikachu was going to taking a suicide test. Rage filled Ash's entire being and when he opened his clenched eyes, they were a harsh silver blue. And he ran back to the house to find Clyde._

_He found Clyde standing alone in the training arena where Ash occasionally battles Paul. "Hello Clyde." Ash's voice sounded lower and slightly demonic._

_Clyde turned around, __**'What happened to your voice Ash?' **__Clyde's face didn't seem fazed by the angry Ash, but his eyes showed he was a little wary. Ash smirked and his hand glowed blue, and then in a split-second he shot his hand forward and a beam of pure aura shot from his palm and towards Clyde. He dove out of the way, but the tree that was behind him wasn't so lucky when part of its truck was blasted away causing the tree to fall. __**'Ash get a hold of yourself! This isn't you!'**_

_Ash snarled and shot an Aura Sphere out of his other hand, "You're the reason Pikachu's dead! It's your fault!"_

_Clyde narrowed his eyes, __**'So that's what this is about?' **__Ash nodded, __**'You could've stopped me Ash, and Pikachu could've too. No one could predict what would happen. So in a way it's your fault Pikachu died as well.'**_

"_SHUT UP!" Ash roared and he sent several beams and spheres from both of his hands at the blonde hoping that one of them would hit him. While Ash was blindly firing at Clyde, he got closer and closer to Ash, and when he was close enough he grabbed Ash's forehead. The second Clyde grabbed Ash, the irises of Clyde's eyes glowed the color of molten gold, and Ash's rage dropped._

_Ash stumbled backwards gasping for air; he looked up at his stoic friend, seeing his eyes were back to normal, "What happened to me?"_

'_**Your power of the aura returned, and it's returned even stronger than it was before.' **__Ash thought back to the Tree of Beginning, but he thought he gave up his power of the aura. __**'You need to learn to control it… and I know just the person to help you.'**_

_Flashback End_

'**Ash, you need to keep control over your anger,' **Clyde looked at the damage around him, **'Well… at least your lessons with Pharaoh helped you to focus your aura on specific things rather than you firing at will.' **Ash chuckled, **'Why don't we find Trip again?' **Ash looked at Clyde like he was crazy, **'It's been a while since Pharaoh has seen some action, and you need a good warm up before the League starts tomorrow. You might as well show Trip what training has done for you.'**

Ash smiled and nodded, Clyde and Ash pretty much ran back to the group of friends. When they got back Dawn ran up to them, "Are you guys okay?" she asked.

Ash nodded and Dawn sighed in relief, "Yeah when Clyde went after Ash she wouldn't stop pacing." Drew said in a teasing voice. Ash looked at Dawn as she blushed.

Ash looked around and Saw that Paul was talking to Nora and looked like he barely noticed that Ash showed up, "Well thanks for your concern, but I have something to do." He started to walk away.

"Where is he going?" May asked.

Clyde's mouth twitched, "To find Trip." Everybody's eyes widened and they ran after Ash.

Ash found Trip almost exactly where he left him, "Trip!" He called out to him.

Trip turned and saw Ash; he smirked, "Well well well, look who's back. Finally came to tell me that you agree you're a lousy trainer."

Ash winced, "No I came to challenge you to a battle."

Trip raised his eyebrows, "Why? Didn't want to lose in public so you just wanted to lose to me and save you the humiliation?"

Ash shook his head, "I'm not going to lose."

Trip smirked, "They say if you tell yourself a lie enough times you believe. You're a perfect example of that."

Ash glared at Trip, his aura seemed closed to going out of control, **'It's just what he wants, it's like a taught your Pokémon. The best way to not fall for a Taunt is to focus of something other than the battle.' **Ash turned around and saw his friends standing there. He looked at every one of them, but his gaze lingered on a certain blunette. Ash stared deeply into her perfect sapphire blue eyes and felt the desire to win.

He turned back towards Trip with a confident grin, "One on one, here and now. And you're right; you can convince yourself a lie is true if you tell it to yourself." Trip raised an eyebrow at Ash, "But this time, it's you that's done the lying." Brown glared into grey as the two trainers glared at each other.

"Very well, I accept your challenge. Let's go Chandelure!" Trip released the Luring Pokémon, its flames illuminating the area around it.

"I see I'm not the only one who's trained, that Chandelure looks strong." Ash remarked before smiling, "But I know someone who's better. Pharaoh I choose you!" Ash released the bipedal Aura Pokémon.

"Lucario." Pharaoh cried in a proud dignified tone.

Clyde walked to the middle of the battle field deciding to be the referee, "Let the battle of Ash vs. Trip begin. One on one, no substitutions, and no items." Clyde walked out of harm's way and to the side of the battlefield, "Go!" and with those words Pharaoh charged the waiting Chandelure.

**-*X*x*X*-**

**And that's a wrap, and just because I know what you're thinking I'll say it, "Oh yes I did"**

**Another of Ash's Pokémon revealed, and we learned something new about our protagonists.**

**Remember the contest to guess Clyde's final Pokémon is still up.**

**Tell me what you think and I'll try to update soon.**

**This is W. R. Winters signing off**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey everybody I'm back!**

**Sorry for leaving you on a cliffhanger like that, but I just had to do it.**

**Well I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: You already know I'll probably never own Pokémon so why do I need to say it.**

**-*X*x*X*-**

Pharaoh charged Chandelure with a burst of speed the second Clyde said "Go." As he approached the Luring Pokémon and Trip did nothing. It was only when Pharaoh was ten feet away that Trip spoke a command, "Flame Burst Chandelure do it now!" Pharaoh's eyes widened as a wave of blue flames erupted from the Ghost-type sending him several feet while covered with several burns due to his steel-typing.

"Pharaoh you can shake it off," the Aura Pokémon nodded and stood up, "That's it, now use Extremespeed into Bone Rush." In each of Pharaoh's paws formed a sword made of bones and he became a blur as he charged once again. When he reached his opponent he rushed past him and there was a flash of bone and the Chandelure went to the side. The Lucario continued to this until his Chandelure looked pretty beaten up with bruises covering his body.

"Come on get up!" Trip barked and Chandelure floated into the air, "Overheat melt this guy!" Chandelure began to glow red and began to charge his attack.

Pharaoh looked at Ash, "Carrr" He cried, Ash nodded and he pulled up his sleeve ad put his hand on his wrist.

"NOW!" Both trainers shouted as Chandelure released his attack and at the same time Ash raised his fist to the sky and both his clenched fist and Pharaoh were surrounded by a powerful pink glow. And when the pink aura connected with the Overheat there was a bright flash of light.

When the flash began to dim Trip smirked expecting Pharaoh to be covered with burns and unconscious on the ground. But when he looked he saw that Pharaoh looked different. "What happened?!" Trip demanded rather than asked.

Ash smirked and pulled down his sleeve to reveal a Mega Bracelet, "I stopped by the Kalos Region before coming here. After a bit of exploring I learned a thing or two, one of those things was about a new power called Mega Evolution." Pharaoh nodded his now orange eyes narrowing at his opponent. "What you're looking at is a Mega Lucario."

Trip growled, "No matter, Chandelure use Fire Blast." An orb of swirling flames began to grow in front of Chandelure.

Ash stood there waiting, "Pharaoh I think it's time we showed him are secret weapon."

Clyde's eyes slightly widened, "What's his secret weapon?" Dawn said next to him. He hadn't realized she had walked up next to him.

"Something I've only seen him use only one other time, and when he did use it. It barley worked, and it wasn't to counter a move as powerful as a Fire Blast." Clyde responded.

By now Chandelure's attack was charged and he released it sending it blasting toward Pharaoh. "Pharaoh, use Aura Sendback." Pharaoh closed his eyes and his veins started to pulse with a blue glow, "I will lend you some of my power." Ash whispered and small strings of aura flowed out of Ash and into Pharaoh's body which caused his aura to glow brighter.

When the powerful fire attack was a few yards away; Pharaoh opened his eyes, his eyes completely replaced by a blue glow and he reached his paws out and caught the Fire Blast. When he grabbed it the force caused him to go back a few feet, his feet leaving trails in the dirt, when it seemed that the strain was too much, Pharaoh put a foot behind him to keep him it place and he launched the Fire Blast back the awestruck Chandelure and his trainer.

When the ball of fire made contact there was a small explosion that caused Chandelure to fly backwards into Trip. "Chandelure is unable to battle which means this battle goes to Ash Ketchum!" Clyde called out.

Trip got up and glared at Ash, "You got lucky this time, at the tournament I won't go as easy on you." He recalled Chandelure and stormed away.

Ash watched Trip's back until he disappeared from his view, "You did well Pharaoh." He said as he returned Pharaoh to his pokeball.

Ash turned around to find Paul right behind him, "What was that?" Ash looked at him confused, "What was that last move?"

"A move that can't be pulled off by any normal Pokémon and by normal I don't mean typing." Everyone turned to look at Clyde, "That move is known as Aura Sendback," When people started to opened their mouths he held up a hand, "It's a move that Ash and Pharaoh invented single-handedly. It's a move that uses the aura inside the Pokémon's being to catch an attack and send it back at the Pokémon that sent the attack. A very powerful move I must say, but there are some drawbacks about it."

"What do you mean?" Nora asked.

Clyde briefly glanced at her before turning to the rest of the group, "It can be performed by a Pokémon who has total control of their aura, which is why Pharaoh was able to discover it, but that's not all. The Pokémon has to be more powerful than usual, which is one of the reasons why Ash had Pharaoh Mega evolve before even attempting to use it." Clyde waited for a second to take a breath before continuing, "Also Aura Sendback is a last resort move. Meaning it's a move that you should only use if you don't have any other choice. Ash used that move because Pharaoh was too exhausted to use any move that would have an effect on a Pokémon like Chandelure. " Clyde shot Ash a look, **'We need to talk later and it's time to go.'**

Ash nodded and looked at the sky see it was now an orange color, "Well it looks like it's getting a little late so I guess we need to go." Ash looked back at his friends, "It was good to see you again." Ash gave Drew a firm handshake and with the other hand he patted Drew on the shoulder, "Take good care of May or you'll have to answer to me." Ash's eyes flashed silver before going back to brown and Drew nodded.

He then looked over at Paul who was saying goodbye to Nora. Before Paul left Nora stopped him and put a piece of paper into his hand. Ash walked over to the blonde, "It was a pleasure to meet you. It's not every day you meet someone that can bring that side of Paul out of him in one day." Nora's cheeks turned rosy red.

As she shook Ash's hand she said, "It was nice to finally meet you. Dawn never shut's up about you." Ash felt his face warm up.

He then went to May, "If Drew ever hurts you just tell me and I'll make sure he regrets it." May nodded and gave Ash a friendly hug.

Ash then approached the blunette. Before he could say anythig. Dawn brought him into a gentle hug with her arms around his neck, Ash put him arms around the lower part of her back, "I missed you Ash."

"Me too Dawn, me too." Ash felt Dawn's lips softly touch his cheek before she pulled away. She kindly smiled at him and he returned the smile. When Ash turned around he saw Paul and Clyde giving him looks, "We'll talk about this later." And with that he pushed past them and walked away with Paul and Clyde following.

'**WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!' **the group of three was now back in the hotel room they were staying for the tournament, and Clyde wasn't happy. **'YOU KNOW AURA SENDBACK IS A LAST RESORT MOVE AND THAT IT'S A RISK TO PHARAOH'S HEALTH!'**

Ash and Paul were starting to get a headache from Clyde's mind projections, "Clyde it was the only thing I could do, I couldn't lose to Trip again."

Clyde sat down and rubbed his temples, "Ash… I realize you wanted to look good in front of your friends, but if it means risking your Pokémon's health to prove your power I can't allow it." Clyde's mouth twitched, "Besides Dawn already thinks you're the best why do you need to prove it?"

Ash's face turned bright red and Paul starting laughing. Ash turned his attention to the purple haired trainer, "Oh your one to talk." Paul stopped laughing and Ash smirked, "What thought that we didn't notice you giving Nora your undivided attention?"

Paul's cheeks turned pink and he looked at Clyde, "Don't look at me I have no opinion in this." The blonde stated. Paul grumbled and got into his bed, "I think he has the right idea, we should go to bed." Clyde got into his bed and a few seconds he was asleep. Ash followed his friends and climbed into bed and within minutes he was asleep.

_Ash opened his eyes and saw he was in a large and dead field. "Noooooir," a shady voice whispered. Ash turned around and found his Dusknoir, Malice behind him._

"_Malice I thought I told you not to enter my dreams." Malice simply floated to the side and revealed a man silhouetted against the low full moon. "Who are you?"_

_The figure only responded, "Meet me in the clearing you destroyed; now."_

Ash's eyes shot open as he sat up. Malice was floating at the foot of his bed, "Is this some kind of joke Malice?" he asked. Malice shook and made a gesture with his massive gray hand to follow him. Ash got out of bed and got into some better clothes and followed Malice.

Ten minutes later Ash was in the same clearing where he lost control of his aura powers. "Why did you bring me here?" he asked the ghost type.

"Because I asked him to." Ash jumped in surprise and a figure slowly faded into view, "I didn't mean to frighten you, but I had to talk to you."

Ash spoke slowly and with caution, "Why did you want to talk to me?"

The figure sighed, "There are things you need to know, and as your ancestor. I'm her to tell them to you." And the figure emerged from the shadows.

**-*X*x*X*-**

**And that's a wrap. I hope you enjoyed it.**

**This is W. R. Winters signing off.**


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